Wang Guowei 王國維

Wang was born in 1877 into a learned family in Hangzhou and grew into a polymath and eminent writer of various disciplines including literature, history, philosophy, and aesthetics. Proficient in English, German, and Japanese, Wang was exceptionally well read in both Eastern and Western classics and, in his rather short lifetime, produced a plethora of influential critiques and essays, with Renjian cihua 人間詞話 [Poetic remarks in the human world] being perhaps his most notable and most quoted work. In June 1927 he committed suicide at Kunming Lake in the Summer Palace.

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